The Devil’s Modus Operandi

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the guy in charge of the Catholic Church’s responses to sexual abuse by clergy, says his church needs to improve its process and open up communications with victims, saying:

Failure to take these actions will threaten and endanger the already weakened moral authority of the Church and can destroy the trust required for the Church to minister to Catholics and have a meaningful role in the wider civil society.

Don’t you think you passed “weakened moral authority” a long, long time ago?

Speaking of the Catholic Church doing terrible, destructive things, it’s the Leather Shoulder Blue Bag Charlestonde Set Tote Pu Lady 6CItzWwqH. That’s working out great for everyone. And “everyone” is a Bag Statement So White Looking Cat 7 Good Tote Shopper Cute Feline whole lot of people because of that ban on contraception. Is it getting crowded in here?

Oh wait, there’s more. Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux at FiveThirtyEight report on how the Catholic Church dominates health care in rural parts of the country, owning a huge portion of the hospitals and often the only option for people in those areas.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, good ol’ Sam Brownback, Cognac Bag Shoulder Cm 16 Harold's Braun Leather Submari YgYqR saying, “We were as inclusive as possible because we wanted to include everyone of every faith or no faith at all, everyone who cares about religious freedom and who will join us in this cause.” Now, who these people of “no faith at all” are, I do not know.

Oh, he also said, “Religious freedom really, truly is for everyone. It’s a right given by God and is a beautiful part of our human dignity.” Good thing everyone agrees about what God is.

Michael Gerson, reviewing David Christian’s book Origin Story about the Big Bang and the history of the cosmos, accuses Christian of “scientism” (oh boy) for saying there’s no evidence for God. Um, but, like, there isn’t…

Despite promises to (unconstitutionally) favor Christian refugees, the Trump administration has actually presided over a 50% decrease in their admission to the country.

It’s part of the devil’s modus operandi. He has always used this kind of phenomena, to, once again, destabilize, engender fear, open us up to the possibility of other realities, other beings. Then we begin getting involved with demonic spirits.

Paul Fidalgo

Paul Fidalgo has been communications director of the Center for Inquiry since 2012. He holds a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University, and has worked previously for FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy and the Secular Coalition for America. Paul is also an actor and musician whose work includes five years performing with the American Shakespeare Center, and he currently directs productions for the University of New England Players. In 2017 he was the second Richard Kirschman Free Thought Fellow at the Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes, California. His work also appears in the 13th book of the Dark Mountain Project. He lives in Maine along with his two dangerous kids. His personal blog is Near-Earth Object, and he tweets at @paulfidalgo.